The best airline loyalty scheme of an airline based in Oceania is… American Airlines’ AAdvantage.
You read that right.
This week Point.me released its rankings of the world’s best airline reward programs and it would be fair to say Australia didn’t fare that well. Neither did New Zealand for that matter.
Having said that, when it comes to loyalty programs, it may not matter that much as there is a significant home court advantage that comes into play.
While Point.me suggests that Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue is the best loyalty program in the world, scoring 92.38, scarcity of opportunity for Australians to build miles and redeem rewards using that program due to tyranny of distance is hardly going to see Qantas Frequent Flyer or Air New Zealand Airpoints executives shaking in their shoes.
According to Point.me, the methodology for the rankings includes evaluation of “practical usability for average travellers, taking into account the complete redemption experience”.
“The methodology notably prioritises real-world data – 22+ million user searches – over theoretical benefits. It places growing importance on features like award holds while considering how most people actually earn and use miles today: primarily through credit cards rather than flying.”
You can see the full rundown here, including the weightings of certain areas.
Unfortunately for those in Oceania, Point.me would suggest there is a bit of a gap between our more local programs and the rest – and not in a positive sense.
Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) landed in 17th with a score of 54.75, Air New Zealand Airpoints taxied into 32nd with 44.63, while Virgin Australia’s Velocity didn’t actually take off – it was too domestic-focused to be ranked.
QFF was praised for its partner opportunities, scoring four out of four stars, while it was lambasted for its award holds (like most other loyalty schemes) and its redemption rates, notching up just one star for each.
Airpoints, meanwhile, got full marks for award availability on its own metal, while things came crashing down to the ground (yikes, terrible pun there) in terms of ease of earning miles, redemption rates and award holds, with just one star recorded for each.
That leaves American Airlines’ AAdvantage, ranked 2nd overall on 87.63 as the leading loyalty program of an Oceania-based airline, as Fiji Airways has used it as its own loyalty program ever since it became a fully-fledged member of oneworld back in March this year.
At the time it seemed like a questionable decision, being that Qantas is a 16% owner of Fiji’s national carrier, which is majority-owned by the Fijian government (52%) with the Fiji National Provident Fund also a part owner (30%).
Turns out that in terms of loyalty, it might just have played a blinder.
AAdvantage notched up four out of four stars for redemption rates, redemption experience, award availability on its own metal, award holds, and change fees/policies.
In the graph above, I have mapped out the results for QFF, Airpoints, AAdvantage and also included Fly Blue and KrisFlyer for some comparison datapoints.
Remember that each category is only out of a maximum score of four.
I could have expanded this microcosm of a rundown of the results to APAC, but Asian carriers didn’t fare too well either.
The only two that came in ahead of Qantas were Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, in equal 11th.
Of other notable Asian airlines that grace our shores, Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles came in 47th, China Southern Sky Pearl Club 53rd, Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus 41st and Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank 33rd. The list ranked 58 airlines altogether.
While it might seem to be a safe assumption that Asian and UAE airlines would dominate the charts, as they often do for their service, this wasn’t the case when it came to loyalty programs.
It’s North America and Europe that lead the field, with Emirates Skywards in ninth and Qatar Airways Privilege Club in 10th – the only non-North American/European programs in the top 10.
In the graph, it may look like QFF is lagging behind by a fair bit. It’s worth noting though that it did manage to pick up a perfect four in partner opportunities, while poor KrisFlyer didn’t manage to crack a four in any of the categories.
And to be fair, with financial results related to QFF as above, it will be business-as-usual for the team moving forward.
The rest of the week
On loyalty, one of the most loyal marketing executives in the travel industry confirmed his next move exclusively to Travel Daily this week.
Chris Fundell, formerly the Head of Marketing APAC for Globus family of brands, has launched Strativate Marketing, offering a range of services, not least the opportunity for SME travel brands to lean into a fractional CMO.
Fundell had done more than 10 years at GFOB – having come from reporting on the marketing industry at Mumbrella, I can tell you confidently that 10 years leading marketing for a brand is significantly longer than the standard tenure, which last time I checked was around the two-year mark.
Travel Daily Editor Adam Bishop also picked up a big scoop on Friday after he managed to get on-the-record comment from Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) confirming that it was in one-on-one negotiations with Journey Beyond for it to acquire the operator of Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara in Central Australia and the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre in Far North Queensland.
It was a busy week for Qantas as well as we sent out a breaker confirming its first A220 international route (Brisbane to Wellington) and reported on the first routes confirmed and on sale for the A321XLR.
The A220 had a bit of a false start when it came to its international endeavours, with the first route initially planned as Darwin to Singapore before that was moved to a Boeing 737.
And Cruise Weekly Editor Myles Stedman picked up on the fresh Ponant yacht brand, aptly titled Ponant Yachting, which among other things, kicked off a frenzy amongst the Business Publishing Group staff to come up with the best pun-filled headline for that story.
Bishop went with ‘Yacht messing around’ while Stedman went with ‘Ponant gets tied up in yachts’.
Rounding out this week, a special congratulations to Penny Spencer and the TIME team, who celebrated TIME’s 15th anniversary on Wednesday night. I think it’s fair to say that the success of a lot of people in the travel industry is in-part thanks to what TIME does.
That’s a wrap for another week. Enjoy your weekend.
Damian Francis
